Book Reviews and Random Thoughts

The Garden Gate (Threshold #4)

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The angelic battle Prissie alone could see tore up her bedroom, her family’s orchard, and her father’s bakery. It destroyed much of what she treasured about her home—and to make matters even worse, although Ephron was finally rescued, her own Guardian, Tamaes, was captured. How can she move forward? How can she trust? But Prissie isn’t facing anything alone. . .

This was just the perfect cap to an already amazing series. Not much worked out how I expected, but there were plenty of surprises and laughs along the way. Beau, Prissie’s brother, is now in on the secret (at least some of it). I thought this would be a bigger thing, was surprised it wasn’t, and then realized that fits perfectly with the kind of story this has always been. Angels are here. It isn’t some big flashy fire-and-lightning, prophecies-from-heaven event, but something that fits so well into the ordinary everyday that it’s hard to draw a line between the natural and the supernatural.

That’s not to say there aren’t battles aplenty. Tamaes is suffering. Adin is scheming. More is happening in heaven and on earth than Prissie has eyes to see.

But the heart of this book is the relationships. I was very surprised at how things ended up with Prissie’s former friends . . . they all moved on. Separately. The same way they’ve been drifting apart for the last three books. Even though Prissie could wish it were otherwise, no miraculous change of heart occurs, and the rift between them by now feels rather final. Perhaps one day it will turn around again, but that was not this book.

In their place, she has a growing friendship (despite her best efforts, and because of his) with Ransom. Ransom feels like the real hero of these stories, to me. He’s been far better to her than she deserves, and his persistence finally bears fruit.

There it was. Prissie dared to ask, “Are you lonely?”
“Nope. I’ve got friends.” Ransom took the topmost box of leftovers from the stack Prissie carried and peeked under the lid. “There’s still an opening if you’re interested.”

And of course, Ransom provides so many laughs.

“They say this is a dream, and I’ll forget everything in the morning.” Ransom edged closer to her. “Never had a dream that came with a disclaimer before. Should I be worried?”

(What happens after this had me laughing until I cried. . . Ransom decides to go for broke because he won’t remember any of it anyway, so why should he care?)

And I grew to like Marcus more and more over the series, but here he’s just perfect. I love how his character develops from barely-talking tough guy that Prissie writes off as bad news to someone she trusts with her life.

“This round, I’m demoted to hand-holder.” Without a trace of irritation, he admitted, “There’s a decent chance I’ll be hiding behind you. But it sounds better to say I’ve got your back.”

I’m so glad we finally get to see Ephron, and that he’s finally in a place where he can recover. I liked Prissie’s conflicted emotions around him. It was her prayer that helped set him free, and it was a prayer she put off making for a long time. Yet how the angels deal with the situation and how Prissie deals with it are totally different. She has a lot of trouble with him because of her own guilt, and because she’s not comfortable being confronted with real suffering and its aftermath.

And Koji has been a faithful friend, but as the year turns, his time with her family is coming to an end. The anticipation of loss is something both of them have a hard time bearing. I really liked how that played out too.

One final quote, because this is totally me too and made me laugh:

“Which do you think—a whole bagful of cheap chocolate, or a little box of the good stuff?”
Prissie shook her head. “Depends on if you’re asking me or Neil. I prefer quality over quantity.”
“Don’t underestimate Neil. He just prefers quality in quantity.”

All in all, these are delightful books. I read this one twice in quick succession because I happened to discover a couple of free short stories on the author’s website, and a few of them give so much context to certain characters that I just had to read this again to catch some of the deeper implications of certain scenes. Highly, highly recommended.